Kenneth Roy Norman FBA (21 July 1925 – 5 November 2020) was a British philologist at the University of Cambridge and a leading authority on Pali and other Middle Indo-Aryan languages.

K. R. Norman
Born
Kenneth Roy Norman

(1925-07-21)21 July 1925
Died5 November 2020(2020-11-05) (aged 95)
NationalityBritish
Spouse
Pamela Raymont
(m. 1953)
Children2
Academic background
Education
Academic work
DisciplinePhilologist
InstitutionsUniversity of Cambridge (1952–1992)
Main interestsPali and other Middle Indo-Aryan languages

Life

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Norman was born on 21 July 1925, and was educated at Taunton School in Somerset and Downing College, Cambridge, receiving his M.A. in 1954.[1]

I was trained as a classicist and studied classical philology, in the form which was current in my student days, i.e. the investigation of the relationship between Latin, Greek and Sanskrit in particular, and between other Indo-European languages in general. I went on to study Sanskrit and the dialects associated with Sanskrit—the Prakrits—and was appointed to teach the Prakrits, or Middle Indo-Aryan, as they are sometimes called, lying as they do between Old Indo-Aryan, i.e. Sanskrit, and New Indo-Aryan, i.e. the modern Indo-Aryan languages spoken mainly in North India.

— K. R. Norman, A Philological Approach to Buddhism[2]: 6 

The whole of his academic career was spent at Cambridge. He was appointed Lecturer in Indian Studies in 1955, Reader in 1978, and Professor of Indian Studies in 1990. He retired in 1992.[1]

From 1981 to 1994 he was President of the Pali Text Society,[3]: xi  and from January to March 1994 he was the Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai Visiting Professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies.[2]: vii 

He was made a Foreign Member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters in 1983[1][4] and a Fellow of the British Academy in 1985.[1][5]

He died on 5 November 2020, at the age of ninety-five.[1][6][7]

Notable works

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Translations

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Other books

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Papers

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Notes

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  1. ^ Published in paperback as The Rhinoceros Horn and Other Early Buddhist Poems.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Norman, Prof. Kenneth Roy". Who's Who. A & C Black. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U29663. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ a b Norman, K. R. (1997). A Philological Approach to Buddhism: The Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai Lectures 1994 (PDF). London: School of Oriental and African Studies. ISBN 0-7286-0276-8. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 December 2014.
  3. ^ Hinüber, Oskar von (2007). "Preface" (PDF). Journal of the Pali Text Society. XXIX: ix–xiv. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 February 2023.
  4. ^ "Professor Emer. Kenneth Norman". Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. Archived from the original on 5 December 2019.
  5. ^ "Professor Kenneth Norman FBA". British Academy. Archived from the original on 14 May 2023.
  6. ^ Gethin, Rupert (8 November 2020). "NOTICE OF PASSING> K.R. Norman (1995–2020)". H-Buddhism. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020.
  7. ^ "Prof. K.R. Norman (1925–2020)". University of Cambridge. 9 November 2020. Archived from the original on 10 November 2020.